American farmers are losing big time 7.6 billion dollar loss last year alone.
The trade war between Washington and Beijing has had a major impact on the US agricultural space over the past two years with the latest US department of agriculture (USDA) figures shining a light on the difficulties faced by farmers during the dispute.
Robert Johansson, the chief economist of the USDA said on Thursday that close to 25 million tonnes of US soybeans will go unsold in 2019, as a direct consequence of the trade war.
The United States exported 13.5 million tonnes less soybeans to China in the 2019 crop year, said Johansson. US soybean stocks have increased dramatically in the past two years as the trade war takes its toll. Johansson forecast that unsold soybean stocks will more than double to 24.8 million tonnes in 2019.
If you filled a pickup truck with soy beans (let’s pick a Ram 2500 which can hold 2 tons) and started filling trucks and lining them up (each taking 20 feet) the line of trucks would almost circle the earth twice at the equator. It ciphers out to be a line more than 47,000 miles long and would contain more than 12 million trucks.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) said Friday that President Trump’s trade wars have "devastated” her state and she urged the administration to finish trade talks with China.
“South Dakota has been devastated by the trade wars that are going on,” Noem, whose state relies heavily on agriculture, said at a conference hosted by Politico.
She noted that trade issues affect farmers but can also affect “every main street business, everybody that has another entity out there that relies on a successful ag industry.”
The GOP governor said she agreed that countries like China sometimes have unfair trading practices, but she said she wants the trade battle between Washington and Beijing to end.